Friday, October 10, 2008

Hold up there!

I was going to run by myself after work yesterday. Really, I was. But in the mid-afternoon someone held up a local WaMu. First of all, a WaMu? Why rob a place that doesn't have money? Hey, if one of the robbers was a depositor, didn't he know about FDIC? Were they just trying to find out whether all those new commercials about WaMu's financial stability were correct? Geez bud, try a 7-11, they probably have more cash on hand.

Anyway. Because the robbers took off in that direction, the high school was in lock-down for a few hours. The report was that one of the robbers was last seen heading out on a bicycle. In the direction of the trail upon which I intended to run. I thought that was a valid excuse for me not to go running by myself. Be safe, rather than sorry. Or, be lazy rather than active. I chose to pick the first excuse reason.

Instead I napped did a bit of cross training and all of my back exercises. Not the level of workout that I had anticipated, but I really am tired this week. Wednesday night Phil and I swam again. When we arrived at the pool we found that a polo game was in process; half the pool was taken up with the game and the excess players warming up. Luckily the other end emptied out and not too many people are lap swimming these days. We each got our own lane and proceeded with the workout I had copied from early in the tri training.

We're trying to swim about 2000 yards each week and trying to vary the workout so that we're not just swimming back and forth. I hadn't taken a really good look at what I printed out. It was about 2000 yards, so it must be ok, right? No. It was the most boring workout ever. The warmup never got above level 2 and was 1050 yards. For just the warmup. Level 2 200, kick 200, level 2 200, rest. Then more 2/kick/2. I shortened the second batch and ended my warmup with 900 yards. The main set was sets of drills surrounded by sets of 200 yards level 4. Phil and I changed that since zzzzzzzzzzzz. I did two sets of 500 and one of 100, all at race pace and above.

Phil is a much faster swimmer (and runner) (and cyclist) than I am. At one point I decided to see if I could keep up with him: almost. We were going in the same direction at the same time and I flat out sprinted to see if I could get to the end of the lane (that's lane, not lap) at the same time as he did. I was right next to him for most of it and just a second behind at the wall, but I was whooped. Ooooh, a big 25 yard sprint and it almost did me in. I was ok after a recovery lap and that speedwork will probably help in the long run. Or long swim, as it were.

After the cool down I ended up with a total of 2000 yards in somewhere around 57 minutes (I forgot to turn off my watch, so I'm guessing). We decided that I'll make up our workouts from now on, with a warmup of no more than 400-500 yards, containing all the drills, and the main workout at race pace or above. I also think I'll change the intensity levels from the 1-10 we've been using to 1-5. I don't have 10 intensity levels! I have very slow, less slow and a little faster than slow. Ok, my levels are very slow, comfortable, race pace, passing race pace and sprint. But I won't have to create too many workouts right away. Because of other commitments, we'll only swim (at the most) twice more this month, then the pool is closed for "maintenance" for the entire month of November. In December we may find it's just too darn cold to swim outside, but maybe if all 3 of us show up we'll tough it out.

Good luck to speedy Phil this weekend at the Long Beach Half - I know you'll do great!

On the knitting front, last night I bound off my project. Since my bind-offs are always tight I went up 2 needle sizes and that worked very well. What's left is weaving in the ends. Weaving in the 48 ends. Weaving in the 48 ends on a 4-strand lace pattern. Yuck. That might take a while, just to get started. Maybe this weekend?